Meandering
the streets of Eski Midyat desperately searching for those elusive churches
gazing up most of the time looking for those bell towers I have seen and have “took
a snap shot on my mind’s eye” from the rooftop of the Konuk Evi, I'm having a stiff neck.

The streets are winding, going up and down,
ending in some cul-de-sac, to find myself on the same spot over and over
again. It’s a like a maze. For foreign tourist (like me), it’s a tough
task, information is hard to find.
There is a tourist information center near the mosque just around the clocktower but I didn’t find anyone there and even if I found one what
are the odds that I won’t get lost in translation.

Children playing on the streets of the old town.

So there are five churches. I have
visited the first one on my first morning, the Mor Barsawmo which is the most
popular among all churches in the town.
I continued my search for the bell tower on the far-left end of the
horizon while I was on top of the Konuk Evi, that will be the Second, and luckily I found it, and maybe it's the Mor Sharbel.

The Third one is not far from it at the edge
of the town near the highway. Both
churches are closed, and it seemed like it’s non-operational. Now, that’s 3 churches in total!

The First church - Mor Barsawmo.

This is the Second church, probably the Mor Sharbel Syriac Orthodox Church?

The Third church - and probably the Mor Akhsnoyo?

The fourth church was the one
inside the high walls beside the Konuk Evi located at the edge of the town with the vast plain on the horizon, which
was also closed.

The Fourth church beside Konuk Evi.

And the search ensued
for the remaining fifth. I think I have seen a belfry
inside a walled compound in one of the street corner although I was not sure if
it’s the back side of the Mor Barsawmo church, I was so damn tired to have to walk to the
end of the street and turning right and left to get to the
other side, so I concluded my search that day.

The Fifth church, or so I thought.

It's a cul-de sac, nowhere to go except to turn around.

You know those movies that leave the
viewers thinking (to personally resolve) what might have happened in the end because the
director or writer had decided to end it that way to make us mulling
over the ending of the story and somehow we deduced it was an intelligent movie after
all?

Well, that was exactly what just
had happened to me that day! I saw the
last belfry considering finally that it may have been the fifth and last church
on my list, if it was the back of the first and popular (Mor Barsawmo) church or not, I’m not
sure and I don't want to find out. All I know is that my tummy
started to growl. I had to end the day
that way. I walked along the maze-like streets in search for the Tarihi
Geluski Hani, NO! it's not another church, it’s a restaurant, I was starving.

Knock knock!

Oh, here's an idea for the town's tourism bureau - "Find the 5 churches of Midyat". Let the tourists enlist to find all the churches in town and whoever accomplishes the task gets a certificate or a T-shirt that says "I survived Midyat" or a gift certificate from the best dining in town, hah!